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The weather was beautiful in Wellington yesterday so we spent the afternoon with friends at the park playing frisbee and talking. This eventually turned into a drink at a bar, and then we decided to go for dinner at an Indian restaurant before heading to a Thanksgiving party. That probably doesn’t sound strange, but I live in New Zealand and we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

It just so happens that the Indian restaurant is below the place we were going for the party and when we arrived on Cuba Street two of our friends were standing in the mall shouting to people in their apartment for the keys. One of them was holding a block of butter, they were all dressed with American Indian headdresses and face paint. Highly amusing.

And then who do I spot sitting on a chair not trying to ignore the rowdy yobbos? None other than Gala Darling! I’ve confirmed in my mind now that I am not the type of person who can walk up to strangers and introduce myself. Although she was sitting RIGHT THERE I fangirled out and all I could manage was a whisper in the boys ear to say Gala is sitting right behind us! 0_0

By that stage the sun was almost down and black denim peddle pushers with white ankle socks don’t translate so well to night, even if you have come straight from the park.

The rest of the night was spent drinking, eating pumpkin pie that must have been done wrong because it tasted like roast pumpkin in pastry, almost being killed by the boy when he picked up an ‘oversized marker pen’ and tried to take the lid off only to find that it was actually a flare (!), laughing at a ransom note one of our friends wrote in response to a lost sunglasses notice, walking around town with a guy who had a red tinged face after smudging his red Indian paint all over it, being asked by the cops why we were sitting at the waterfront because no buses go past there (duh! we already told you we’re from Wellington), playing with fireworks and sparklers on the waterfront, finding out that that’s illegal, eating cheesecake at a cafe and discussing horrific stories of anal sex gone terribly terribly wrong.

Had to open with that because man was it good! The scene is set as we pull onto the gravel road at Pourerere Beach in Hawkes Bay. There are plenty of parking spots available up the driveway because we’ve taken the day off in order to enjoy the weekend to its full potential. The tent is the only thing taken out of the car until we find a camping spot, and soon I’m glad we didn’t lug the suitcase around the hill to start with.

For camping we are instructed to find a spot and huddle together so there is room for everyone. The land has been flattened in pockets up the hill. The spots are all pretty private, surrounded by trees, it’s insanely cute and I want to stay there forever.

We are first met with the sight of a bach with a huge deck, there is a large tent pitched beside it with a sign saying it’s the girls powder room “No Boys Allowed”. It makes me groan that some girls can’t go two days without needing a large mirror to apply their makeup, but then some girls are just like that.

Behind the house is huge marquee, with a stage for the bands, and behind that the hill extends upwards. When the owners bought the land 15 years ago they were told nothing would grow on it, that didn’t stop them from covering it in trees though. Now it’s the only place on the hill with bush land. It’s truly beautiful.

Night one

Alone in the tent, I’ve “showered” with baby wipes, I’ve got my bright pink PJ pants and the blow up bed makes sleeping in the bush more comfortable than I ever would’ve guessed. It’s 1.30am and I can hear people having fun to 60s music in the distance and crashing waves setting the scene. I’m warm, there’s fresh air all around and I’m reading Angels and Demons.

That was how night one of Super Summer Started ended for me. It’s been a fantastic day, starting at 9am from Wellington with my partner in crime and two mates and arriving at the beach just after 3pm. The next few hours were spent ferrying gear to our chosen campsite, drinking, and reacquainting ourselves with freedom. The water is just “warm” enough to paddle in. I’ve been trained in how to throw a frisbee properly by two Ultimate players but I still can’t do it very well. I can catch though :D

We enjoyed girls against boys soccer game for a short time, running on the beach uses a whole different set of leg muscles!

Dinner is green salad, potato salad, sausages and bread. By then we’re all starving and most are drunk. The sun goes down and a bright red full moon comes up. We drink to the moon.

Tonight is amateurs night in the marquee. The musicians are bloody fantastic and manage to get the crowd dancing and singing (when we know the words). The final act is Afternoon Raj, a Wellington five piece which have been on and off since 2005. They pull out three awesome originals and a fantastic cover of Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time. I really hope they carry on with the band because I can’t wait till they have their songs recorded and I can share them with you.

Night two

In preparation for the final night the tables were moved under the marquee for speeches and prize giving. Dinner was burgers with green salad and potato salad again. Making it two nights in a row of salad sandwiches and potatoes for dinner because I don’t eat meat. Thankfully breakfast and lunch was hot food; hashbrowns, eggs and english muffins (and bacon for the omnivores) at breakfast, and nachos at lunch. There were woodfired pizzas all through the afternoon too. I’m not exaggerating when I say these pizzas are the best I have ever had. So simple! Some mozzarella and herbs and hey presto, mouth orgasm. If you’re in Wellington look out for the guys with the portable woodfire oven, red base and white oveny bit. They’ll be starting up business soon.

My day had been spent reading in the tent amongst nature and listening to the boy spew about 7 times. He got so drunk on Friday night! After all the spewing and 4 naps he was becoming human again.

A waterslide was set up and we got to see a lot of guys blind themselves with detergent and scratch themselves up by sliding off the end onto the grass.
This video pretty much sums it up.

After dinner and speeches it was down to the beach for a bonfire and sparklers. I discovered our cameras fireworks settings for slow shutter speed just in time. By now the boy and I didn’t feel like drinking and went back to the tent for a 20 minute rest before the Thomas Oliver Band played. I should’ve realised that with the boy’s lingering hangover that we were never going to see the band. He was snoring a few minutes later, leaving me to lie awake another night with the bass pumping through the ground unable to sleep. Thankfully the bass was good.

Morning two – Final day

Sunday morning was pack up time. Traipsing the hills with rubbish bags collecting bottle and cans. The marquee now smells like a long established bar with the disgusting smell of warm spilt beer. Urgh.

Breakfast was quite late so we were starving by the time it was served at 11.30am. No one went hungry though with the mass piles of hashbrowns and bacon left over, people were either too hung over to leave their tents or had left early to go back home, perhaps trying to avoid the Toast Martinborough traffic down the road.

Thanks SO much to all of the organisers and especially to the Masons. It was so nice to see a large group of young people looking out for each other making it a fantastic and safe weekend despite all the booze and drugs :D

Super Summer Starter was first incarnated in 2005. Back then it involved about 30 people camping at a friends bach and was a way to blow off steam after university exams had finished. It’s become bigger and better every year since and last year saw the numbers climb to 80, a portaloo was added for the first time in 2007 to supplement the two toilets inside the bach.

This years demand has exceeded the space available for camping so invites have been limited to 150. It’s not hard to see why Super Summer Starter is so popular. At $75 for 3 days and 2 nights of camping, music, fireworks, and good times, with all food provided, we’re getting a pretty sweet deal.

Organisers are likely to break even, if that. This is a not for profit gig organised for friends. It’s all possible because of the generous and talented people organising Super Summer Starter and the amount of time they’ve volunteered. (Thanks guys!!)